New Friends :)

We started off this morning heading to Skogafoss. Honestly, we both had an inkling that we’d be somewhat underwhelmed; we’ve seen so many incredible waterfalls in the past few days that it was hard to imagine this next one making an impression. When we walked up to it from afar it was definitely a sight to see, but it didn’t have its full effect until we were right up next to it. That was the closest either of us have been to a waterfall of that size. While underneath, we were lucky enough that the sun came out for us, creating a beautiful double rainbow in the waterfall mist. One of the rainbows became a full ring as we walked closer; It moved along with us so that we were walking inside the ring of color. We got absolutely soaked by the waterfall spray, and it was 100% worth it.

 

As enjoyable as the waterfall was an hour long hike / walk above the waterfall and along the river. It led to several more fosses, rapids, and rocky bends, each unique and stunning. We enjoyed our time in the morning sun; it’s been mostly cloudy during our time here in Iceland, so it was nice. We took a five minute nature meditation on the edge of the canyon looking over the river. And we finally made our way back down the 427/428 (one of us had an off by one error) stairs to the bottom.

 

We’re becoming total pros at driving manual. It’s satisfying to have learned so quickly, especially remembering that just over a week ago we had no idea we were doing. Thank you Lorelle and Nathan for teaching us!

We’ve played a lot of "My Cows" while driving today. This is basically the only day we’ve seen cows at all, and we’ve now collected 555 between the two of us (Nolan is up 315 – 240..).

For lunch, we went to a restaurant called Fridheimar that serves tomato soup with fresh bread. The entire restaurant is inside a giant greenhouse where they grow all the tomatoes.  Sadly, when we arrived they told us that they were all booked up, but luckily we were still allowed to order lunch at the bar.  It was the best tomato soup that either of us has ever had.  The interior of this place is really pretty, with tomato stalks reaching from the floor to ceiling right next to the seating area.  Each table has a fresh basil plant as the center piece, and apparently there are over 6,000 bees inside the building.  We saw a number of them in a box while we wandered through the tomato plants. Esther/Mom you would absolutely love this place :)

Just before we got lunch, we were at a gas station.  While Monisha went inside to ask for some hot water, Nolan saw a very cute stray dog looking sad near the car.  He opened the door and she came right over and put her head in the car.  We pet her for a while (she was one of the most friendly dogs we’d ever met). While we pet her, she rolled onto her back and it looked like she might be nursing a set of pups! Before long, a second dog came by and soon Monisha was sitting on the ground with the two of them in her arms.

  

 

We made a stop to Geysir, and saw a sweet geyser :)

 

Afterwards, we succeeded in our goal of picking up hitchhikers! On the way to Gullfoss, we picked up a couple from Calgary and took them along to the falls. Another totally beautiful foss…obviously. It was fun to hear about their travels; the two of them are also on the first leg of a longer adventure. They will be traveling for a full year!

 

We just finished watching a movie in our camper van. It really is quite the setup.

 

Hard to believe that today was our last full day in this beautiful country. What an adventure it’s been.